The use of powered equipment for performing the extraction and reinsertion operation for a heat exchanger bundle was necessitated by the increased advantages of large heat exchangers, and accordingly large tube bundles within those heat exchangers. Various equipment has been designed for assisting in the extraction of specific types of heat exchanger bundles, although the amortized cost of this equipment is high since its utility is substantially limited. In other cases, heat exchangers were installed in physically restricted location, or were installed with respect to other sizable or stationary equipment so that full usage of even the specialized equipment is not practical. Accordingly, extremely high labor costs are frequently required to remove and replace heat exchanger bundles. Moreover, existing heat exchanger extractor assemblies do not fully utilize the capability of skilled tube bundle extractor personnel. Even when ideally utilizing existing extractor assemblies, maintenance costs thus remain high.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, and improved methods and apparatus are hereinafter disclosed for efficiently and reliably extracting and inserting a heat exchanger bundle.